AddressToongabbie Primary School is a small rural township, 20km north of Traralgon in the Latrobe Valley. Our beautiful school was established in 1866 during the Walhalla gold rush days with just twelve students and a temporary building. The school has a friendly and family atmosphere where the students can learn and grow enjoying all the benefits a small rural school offers. Grounds are expansive and provide a variety of active spaces, including an oval, and two playgrounds, and an excellent sports court. For those that prefer quieter pursuits that a number of seating areas spread throughout the grounds. We have an extensive library, and a multi-purpose tech room, which are open to the students at lunchtimes once a week. New families are always welcome to the township and our school is the heart of the community.
In2Learning provide before and after school care, including holiday programmes.
Toongabbie is a School wide Behaviour School, we recognise, and reward positive behaviour and we adhere to the agreed expectations of:
Be a respectful person
Be a reliable friend
Be a persistent learner, and
Be a resilient team member.
At Toongabbie Primary School, addressing the needs of students and enabling them to achieve their best is what motivates us in the work we do every day. As teachers, we are privileged to educate the future leaders, creators, and citizens of our community and as such it is our belief that we must treat them with the respect, care, and attention that we wish them to exercise in their adult lives.
As we are a small school, our students are considered as individuals where our staff team craft the best approach to teaching and learning. As a result, our students are developing as self-motivated and thoughtful learners who meet challenges with resilience and a positive mindset. Our team approach also ensures that no student gets left behind, each child is closely monitored, and parents are actively encouraged to be involved in their progress.
Our Teaching and Education Support staff work collaboratively to provide and deliver a teaching and learning programme that ensures all students thrive and can achieve success. We all work closely to ensure that evidence of learning is strategically used to continually direct the future learning needs of all students. As a school we continually work to build our capacity to provide the best possible education for our students, through participation in ongoing professional development.
At Toongabbie Primary School we offer specialist programmes to our students including German, Art, Physical Education along with a focus on building leadership skills through various programmes and opportunities.
Current enrolments sit at 67 students and vary slightly each year. Toongabbie Primary School has links with local sporting clubs and provides many opportunities for parents to be involved in their child's educational experience. The building of these relationships is having a positive impact on the outcomes of our students.
We are committed to provide quality teaching and learning experiences in a safe, productive and caring environment. We recognise and support all facets of your child's development, social, emotional and physical in addition to their academic achievement. We recognise that students come to Toongabbie with different backgrounds and experiences. Together we will embrace students' individuality whilst working as a united learning community.
SC1 Demonstrated expert knowledge of the relevant curriculum. Demonstrated ability to model exemplary teaching practice, including the teaching of literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum, and implement school priorities.
SC2 Demonstrated expertise in the implementation and modelling of high impact teaching strategies that respond to student learning needs. Demonstrated ability to support teachers to evaluate the impact of learning and teaching programs on student learning growth
SC3 Demonstrated exemplary ability to model the monitoring and assessment of student learning. Demonstrated ability to support others in using data to inform teaching practice and to provide feedback on student learning growth and achievement to students and parents.
SC4 Demonstrated exemplary interpersonal and communication skills. Demonstrated ability to engage in collaborative relationships with students, colleagues, parents and the broader school community to support student learning, agency, wellbeing and engagement.
SC5 Demonstrated ability to model behaviours and attitudes consistent with Department values. Demonstrated ability to support others to reflect on their practice and facilitate school-based professional learning.
The Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System highlighted that primary schools provide opportunities to identify children with mental Health and Wellbeing challenges, who can then be referred to treatment, care and support.
The Victorian Government is providing $200 million over four years and $93.7 million ongoing to expand the Mental Health in Primary Schools program to every government and low-fee non-government primary school in Victoria. Scaling up across the state from 2023, by 2026 every primary school will be able to employ a Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader to implement a whole-school approach to wellbeing.
Participating schools receive funding to employ a Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader, a qualified teacher, to work across the school to implement a whole-school approach to mental Health and Wellbeing for students, staff and families based on a broad knowledge of the needs of the school community. This includes:
- building the capacity of school staff, in particular classroom teachers, to identify and support students with mental Health concerns in the classroom
- supporting the school to create clear referral pathways internally (within school) and externally (to community services) for students identified as requiring further assessment and intervention
- coordinating targeted mental Health support for students by working with regional staff, school wellbeing and leadership teams, teachers, parents/carers and external agencies
Mental Health and Wellbeing Leaders are not required to have mental Health or other relevant qualifications, as the role is not expected to provide one-on-one counselling to students. Instead, the role is designed to ensure mental Health prevention and early intervention are embedded in the classroom. Using their intimate knowledge of the in-classroom experiences of teachers, Mental Health and Wellbeing Leaders complement the school's existing wellbeing team by bringing it together with regional staff, community services and other health professionals to engage and build relationships with appropriate mental Health and Wellbeing support.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Leaders are provided training in mental Health literacy, supporting emerging needs, and building school capacity and receive ongoing support and professional development through a structured and regular Communities of Practice. Training is developed and facilitated by the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at University of Melbourne, supported by Murdoch Children's Research Institute.
The Department of Education and Training has been piloting the Mental Health in Primary Schools initiative in Victorian schools since 2020 in partnership with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. Evaluation of this pilot program has shown that 95 per cent of Mental Health and Wellbeing Leaders consider the Mental Health in Primary Schools model has improved their school's capacity to support students' mental Health and Wellbeing needs.
Learning Specialists will be highly skilled classroom practitioners who continue to spend the majority of their time in the classroom delivering high-quality teaching and learning and have a range of responsibilities related to their expertise, including teaching demonstration lessons, observing and providing feedback to other teachers and facilitating school-based professional learning. Learning Specialists are expected to have deep knowledge and expertise in high quality teaching and learning in delivering improved achievement, engagement and Wellbeing for students. The role of the Learning Specialist will be to model excellence in teaching and learning through demonstration lessons and, mentoring and coaching teachers in improving the skill, knowledge and effectiveness of the teaching workforce.
The Learning Specialist role is aimed at building excellence in teaching and learning within the Teaching Service.
Operating in collaboration with their school, leadership and Wellbeing team where relevant, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader will:
- Promote a whole school approach to mental Health and Wellbeing to students, staff and families
- Support teachers and school staff to expand their capacity to embed evidence-based mental Health strategies, interventions and programs and build mental Health literacy to identify and support primary school students with mental Health concerns.
- Coordinate clear referral pathways internally (within school) and externally (to community services) for students identified as requiring further assessment and intervention.
- Proactively work with and support regional staff, school wellbeing and leadership teams, teachers, parents/carers and other external agencies to coordinate targeted mental Health support for primary school students.
- Contribute to the school's existing wellbeing team.
In recognition of the importance of exemplary practice for improved student learning outcomes, the key roles of the Learning Specialists may include but are not limited to:
- Demonstrating high-level expertise in teaching and learning practice
- Modelling exemplary classroom practice including through teaching demonstration lessons
- Working with the school leadership team to develop a shared view of highly effective teacher practice
- Leading and modelling the implementation of whole-school improvement strategies related to curriculum planning and delivery
- Playing a key role in the provision of professional learning, including through developing processes and protocols for observation and feedback of teacher practice and peer collaboration
- Modelling effective learning practice and supporting teachers to seek, analyse and act on feedback and on their practice
- Providing evidence-based feedback to teaching staff to inform their effectiveness and development
- Providing expert advice about the context, processes and strategies that will shape individual and school professional learning
- Supervising and training one or more student teachers and mentoring and/or coaching teachers
- Modelling exemplary use of student data to inform teaching approaches
- Developing and promoting school-wide professional learning structures, processes and protocols through Professional Learning Communities
- Modelling exemplary professional learning practice included through seeking feedback from other teachers and leaders on their own classroom practice as part of critical reflection and inquiry to improve practice
Teachers currently registered or eligible for registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching and qualified to teach and/or have demonstrated experience in the curriculum area(s) specified for the position.
Applicants seeking part-time employment are encouraged to apply for any teaching service position and, if they are the successful candidate, request a reduced time fraction. Such requests will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and will be subject to the operational requirements of the school.
The Department of Education is committed to the principles of equal opportunity, and diversity and inclusion for all. We value diversity and inclusion in all forms - gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQ+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for roles within the Department. The Department recognises that the provision of family friendly, supportive, safe and harassment free workplaces is essential to high performance and promotes flexible work, diversity and safety across all schools and Department workplaces. It is our policy to provide reasonable adjustments for persons with a disability (see Workplace adjustment guidelines).
Additional support and advice on the recruitment process is available to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders from the Koorie Outcomes Division (KOD) via *******@education.vic.gov.au
Victorian government schools are child safe environments. Our schools actively promote the safety and Wellbeing of all students, and all school staff are committed to protecting students from abuse or harm in the school environment, in accordance with their legal obligations including child safe standards. All schools have a Child Safety Code of Conduct consistent with the department's exemplar available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/child-safe-standards/policy
The department's employees commit to upholding the department's Values: Responsiveness, Integrity, Impartiality, Accountability, Respect, Leadership and Human Rights. The department's Values complement each school's own values and underpin the behaviours the community expects of Victorian public sector employees, including those who work in Victorian Government Schools. Information on the department values is available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/values-department-vps-school-employees/overview
- All staff employed by the Department and schools have access to a broad range of employment conditions and working arrangements.
- Appointment of successful applicants will be made subject to a satisfactory pre-employment conditions check.
- A probationary period may apply during the first year of employment and induction and support programs provided.
- Detailed information on all terms and conditions of employment is available on the Department's Human Resources website at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/Pages/default.aspx
To be eligible for employment, transfer or promotion in the principal or teacher class a person must have provisional or full registration from the Victorian Institute of Teaching. In addition, from 3 August 2020, to be eligible for employment in the principal class or teacher class, a person who graduated from a Victorian Initial Teacher Education program after 1 July 2016, must demonstrate that they have passed the literacy and numeracy test for initial teacher education (LANTITE) requirements. This condition is satisfied where the LANTITE requirement is part of the Victorian Initial Teacher Education program completed by the person.
